Ted smiled. He had this pitcher now and they both knew it, one more pitch would be all he would need. There it was, the wind up, the delivery, and yes, it was a good one. Now swing hard – crack! A good hit. Now dig hard, run fast for first base. Just focus on getting to first base. Run like hell. First base coach is waving me on. Keep going 'round first and head for second. Dig harder! Run faster now! Glance outfield, look for the ball. It looks like it's going... keep going 'round second, head for third, don't stop! Getting waved on for home, smile, but run harder and faster, head for home! The ball is coming in! It's going to be close, very close, slide in … safe. A home run. Brought in two runners, we have a great lead all we have to do now is play smart, and we have it made. One more inning and this game is over and we are ahead by 3.

Ninth inning is a pitching duel, three up and three down. We win. Ted was happy he brought home the winning run and put his team tied for first place. Finally he felt all that extra training and hard work were paying off. Baseball didn't come easy to Ted he loved the game but he had to really work hard at it, he ran three miles everyday and worked out in the school weight room every lunch, all for this moment.

Last year Ted didn't make the team; he was just too slow, and he didn't have the strength to hit a good ball. This only made Ted work even harder to reach his dream of playing baseball. All his running and working out had paid off in other ways, too. He was in better shape than he had ever been in, he had put on muscle and there was not an ounce of fat on him. At 14 and only one day short of his fifteenth birthday he was in tiptop shape and on top of his game.

Ted was looking forward to his fifteenth birthday, his two best friends in the whole world, Todd and Taylor, were coming over for a sleep over, and he knew they would have a good time. They had lots planned for the night but were always updating their plans as new ideas crossed their minds.

The three boys had known each other since they were toddlers and had been friends ever since. They had even been given a nickname when they were younger because they were always getting into little boy mischief together. They were commonly known as the three T's, (to their parents it was the terrible T's sometimes, too).

After the game Ted met up with Todd and Taylor for some post game celebrating. Both Todd and Taylor were happy for Ted making the team this year, they both helped him as much as they could they both ran with him everyday and worked out in the gym with him too. And they had both spent hours playing ball with Ted to get him ready for the team.

Tonight Ted had double reason to celebrate, he had made the team with the help of his best friends, he had brought in the winning run and tomorrow was his fifteenth birthday. Life just didn't get much better.

Ted's mom picked the three boys up after the game and took them out for pizza and pop, then dropped them off for a movie. While waiting for their movie to start the boys were playing video games when Todd spotted Amanda. Now, Ted had a huge crush on Amanda, and every time he tried to talk to her he got all nervous and tongue-tied so that nothing would come out of his mouth. Ted was in love with Amanda but he made a fool of himself every time he tried to speak to her.

Todd and Taylor knew this and basically had a lot of fun with it, at Ted's expense of course, so when Todd spotted Amanda and her friends, he motioned to Taylor who then also noticed Amanda and got a big smile on his face. The plan was a simple one-- get Ted to try and talk to Amanda and then just stand back and enjoy the show.

Deployment went flawlessly. Todd distracted Ted and Taylor suggested they get their pop and popcorn for the movie, and then they led Ted towards the concession stand and of course just happened to bump into Amanda and her friends.

When Ted saw her his mouth went dry, his palms got sweaty and his stomach was instantly in knots. His mind went blank to everything except her beauty. And that made him blush so red he was practically glowing. All he could get out of his mouth was a stammered, "h... h... hi, A... Am... Am... Am... Aman... Aman... da. Ted was so embarrassed he didn't know what to do. Amanda smiled at Ted and said "hi Ted, see you tomorrow at school," then went with her friends to watch the movie they were there to see.

Ted watched Amanda walk away with a puppy dog in love look on his face, she was so beautiful and he loved her so much but if he could just talk to her. As soon as Amanda was out of sight Ted regained his composure and turned on Todd and Taylor, and said, "hey guys, that's not funny." Todd and Taylor, however, thought it was hilarious and were killing themselves laughing. Ted just sighed and said come on lets get our stuff.

After the movie the boys were discussing the next nights sleep over, deciding who was going to bring what and what movies they should watch, what games should be played and of course what to eat, they all agreed that this was going to be a killer sleep over made even better because it was Ted's fifteenth birthday. When they got home all three boys went to bed very excited thinking about tomorrow and of course tomorrow night.

All that night Ted had strange dreams, dreams that were vague and in some was disturbing and in other ways comforting, he dreamt that his whole groin area was engulfed in a warm soft white cloud and it was raining and he was wet. When he woke up he couldn't quite remember the dreams, but they left him feeling confused, excited and scared for what today would bring.